Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Question: Our pathologist received a specimen identified as a biopsy of a “soft tissue mass” of the upper right thigh. The pathologist diagnosed the mass as a sarcoma. Should we report this service as 88305 or 88307? 

Georgia Subscriber

Answer: You should report the procedure as 88307 (Level V - Surgical pathology, gross and microscopic examination…, Soft tissue mass [except lipoma] - biopsy/simple excision…). Code 88307 includes biopsy or excision of a soft tissue mass, except lipoma. That means you can report this code for the biopsy specimen — you don’t have to limit your use of this code to excisions that include a surgical margin. 

You would not be correct to report 88305 (Level IV - Surgical pathology, gross and microscopic examination…, Soft tissue, other than tumor/mass/lipoma/debridement…), because the sarcoma diagnosis indicates that this soft-tissue mass is a tumor, which the 88305 specimen definition excludes.

Code 88307 includes biopsy or excision of a soft tissue mass, except lipoma.